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This is the adorable face that greeted me when I got home today, after the schlep from LAX.

I now know how sardines feel, having been squashed into economy for the long haul flight (oh for those airlines who give media business class seats!) but I met a fabulous Kiwi who lives in the South of France who is going to make a great story for one of the magazines I scribble for. I'm all about making lemonade, etc.

During the two weeks I was away, someone switched on the sunshine. So after unpacking and chucking on a load of washing, there was a glorious walk in the Town Belt with this furry bundle of goodness. We ran into several dog walking mates who said they'd missed me and asked about my travels, etc. It is sooooo good to be home and to be a part of such a nice community. I know it sounds like a big, fat cliche - and this could be the jet-lag talking - but I sure lucked out with the life I have and the place I live and the people who share  my world. It's great to wander but it's much, much nicer to come home.

Speaking of wandering, had a fabulous weekend in LA and will sort those pics out later this week. For now there is work to be done and sleep to be had and furry ears to rub.  

Tomorrow it is back to a 6.45am alarm and the 20-hour-a-week speech-writing gig....sigh.

New Orleans

I managed to find some time before my flight to LA so here goes:

We've just spent three nights in the Big Easy, possibly one of the coolest cities on the planet. It helped that the temperatures nudged 30+ degrees every day and that the honeyed, Southern drawl made me smile with delight.

You can't go long, or far, in this city without hearing the word Katrina. And while the scars of this devastating hurricane a decade ago are still evident in some parts, this city has a PhD in reinventing itself.

There was an evening class at the Louisiana Cooking School (and the best gumbo this side of Tennessee), a swamp tour (check me out with the baby gator), a dinner cruise on the Mississippi River and lots and lots of great jazz, good food and sunshine. NOLA might just be my new best friend.

     

Catch-up - Mississippi

If you've ever visited a concentration camp, you might have experienced the visceral sucker-punch of being in the presence of so many ghosts.

Our visit to Frogmore Plantation on Monday, a cotton plantation from the 1800s which is still a working plantation, was a bit like that. At its height, Frogmore employed 159 slaves and today, as we wandered the property, seeing how cotton is produced and the conditions the slaves lived under, it was impossible not to feel the spirits of those who had endured such unimaginable hardships. Indeed, a quote on the wall from Solomon Northup, whose memoir 12 Years A Slave was turned into the award-winning film, perfectly encapsulated the experience: "There were humane and inhumane masters. But irrespective of that, the practice of slavery is barbaric and inhumane".

It was a fascinating experience but, to be honest, it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I wasn't sad to leave.

I promised another antebellum home and here it is - Oak Alley Plantation, a classic 1830 home on the edge of the Mississippi River where we got to channel our inner Scarlett O'Hara.

 
We have been in the glorious city of New Orleans since Tuesday and tomorrow I fly to LA for two nights. While in NOLA we have done everything from a cooking school to a swamp visit (where a gator got far too close for comfort) but those pictures may have to wait until I'm home.
  

Mississippi Burning

Not the movie but the place, where today temperatures pushed their way into the 30s. With humidity levels hovering around 8,000% (or so it felt).

Thankfully, large chunks of the day were spent in the air-conditioned comfort of the bus, driving from Memphis to Natchez, Mississippi,

Memphis made sure we got our last hit of soul, rock 'n roll and blues at the Rock 'N Soul Museum. .

And then it was onto America's 20th state and a sighting of the muddy Mississippi River, on its way south from Minnesota to its date with the Gulf of Mexico, some 3,766km later.

Natchez, btw, is cute as a button. It's a shame we're only here for one night.

Dinner was magical - outside on the patio of an antebellum (pre Civil War house). I've always associated these grand, sweeping residences with Gone with the Wind et al, and although they can't be separated from their dodgy past (ie being built on the back of slave labour), there's no denying how stunning the setting was.

Expect more antebellum homes tomorrow.

I'm going to Graceland, Graceland in Memphis Tennessee

Six and half years ago, my beloved and I were married by an extremely proficient Elvis impersonator at Graceland in Vegas (for a story for NEXT Magazine).

Today I went to the real Graceland, about 10 minutes drive from down-town Memphis. I have much to say about it BUT am rushing to get ready for dinner and no doubt will say it in one of the five pieces I have to write from this famil.

Instead, pictures will have to do.

*Sidebar for my friends in the Southern Hemisphere: it was 30 glorious degrees in Memphis today. Just sayin'...

Later, there was a visit to Sun Studio, the birthplace of rock 'n roll.